Damage
by nattieeejayyy
Summary: Freddie has an accident at the club when things become too much to handle between him and joe. Not only is it a question of his survival, but also a qeuestio of, if he does make it, will he be the same freddie everyone knew, loved and hated? if not, will they want him back?
1. Chapter 1

**This is set in six months time - Lyndsey is heavily pregnant, Sandy is in prison after the family discovered Freddie killed Fraser but she decided to take the blame so that Freddie didn't have to face jail. Joe knows about Lyndsey sleeping with Freddie. Freddie lives at the roscoe house but the tension is immense. **

Joe thundered down the stairs and flew open the kitchen door. Freddie sat sheepishly scoffing corn flakes and Lyndsey was doing the pots.  
'You alright babe?' Lyndsey notices Joe's firing temper and knew what it could lead to. Putting down the bowl she was drying, she leant in and gave her fiancé a hug and a kiss.  
'Alright?' Lyndsey backed off as she saw Joe rage and stomp around the kitchen, throwing whatever was in his way. 'Our mum is in PRISON because of that wanker. He sits there all innocent eating his cereal in MY home AND he tried to set me up for it so that he could get his grubby hands over my…' Joe gazed into Lyndsey's eyes which were hazy through tears. She was fed up of all the fighting and the hating. She just wanted everybody to get along.  
'In my defence Joe mum volunteered to take the rap, it's not like I forced her into it...' Freddie coolly let the spoon slip back into the bowl after taking his final mouthful with milk dropping from his mouth.

'YOU WHAT?!' Joe raged at Freddie, picking him up by hi t-shirt and throwing him against the back door. 'If it was up to me, it would be me in jail for killing you. You are nothing but scum and I never want to see you again. You hear?' Joe roared in Freddie's face.  
'Everyone hated Fraser. I did us a favour, bro-'  
'you are not my brother. And do you really think this is about Fraser? I'll give you that one but I'm on about everything – the lies when I was in hospital, you sleeping with my girlfriend, lying about it, setting me up for a murder you committed but then allowing mum to take the blame for it!'  
'Joe you saw her, she was adamant she was going to do the time. Nothing any of us could say or do was going to change her mind'. Joes grasp in Freddie loosened. He knew he was right. Sandy heartbroken when she found out her son, her own flesh and blood killed Fraser. So much so, she cried non-stop for a week. What made it worse for her, however was the thought of her third eldest son locked away in prison for the rest of his life. Freddie wasn't a bad lad, he just went about things the wrong way.  
There was a moment of silence as Joes grip on Freddie became less and less to the point where Freddie could wriggle himself free. Joe stared at the floor in disbelief. What had happened? What had happened to this family of brothers who stood by each other and defended each other no matter what? They were long gone. Nowadays Joe trusted Freddie just as much as he trusted Fraser. You know, before was killed. Coincidentally by Freddie. Joe felt like he'd lost his younger brother, he was nothing more than a stranger to him; he barely knew him at all.  
Later on that afternoon, Freddie was sat in the loft office, lazily drinking a bottle of beer. Grace was stomping around the place, giving orders that Freddie was blatantly ignoring. Since he had no job and he was barely welcome at the roscoe house, Freddie took a lot of pleasure from winding grace up. Grace never found out the truth about her father's killer. She sat in court and watched gleefully as Sandy, the step-mother from hell, get found guilty and sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 15 years, that was good enough for her.

'You think you're dead clever sat there on your high horse but remember, I got your whole family in here playing happy families at Lyndsey's baby shower. Oh yeah, that's going to be fun isn't it? Remind me again who the daddy to be is again? Oh that's right… you don't know'. Grace leant over the table smirking as she spoke to Freddie before standing up and walking out of the office cool as a cucumber. Again, with a grin on her face. Freddie however, had very different feelings. All of a sudden he felt cold, sweaty and anxious. Joe could only just about bare to live with Freddie as it was. Any mention of the baby and he would fly off the handle. That's the thing with Joe, more so since sandy went to prison and he found out that Freddie DID sleep with Lyndsey thus the baby may not be his, he's been a ticking time bomb. A time bomb which could explode at any moment. A time bomb that terrified Freddie.  
The party was in full swing and so far Freddie had been able to stay away from Joe. Traditionally, baby showers were for the expecting mother and her female friends. However, Darren couldn't give them the pub and with Freddie spending almost all his time at the club, Joe wanted to be there. So, he made it a family affair and invited everyone. Lyndsey didn't mind at all. She knew Joe did what he did out of love for her.  
Freddie stayed in the office drinking himself blind drunk on his own away from the party. He couldn't bear to face Joe, Lyndsey or anyone for that matter. He just wanted to be left alone until…  
'Are you coming to this party or not?' Joe pushed open the door and looked down at Freddie  
'you don't even want me at your stupid party, you don't want me in your life' Freddie slurred

'This isn't about me, this is about Lyndsey and our baby. You know-' before joe could rant on about what a disgrace Freddie was to himself his family, Freddie stood up and put in his hands in the air although to surrender.  
'I really don't need this, I am out of here' Freddie staggered out of the office, not really paying much attention to what he was doing or where he was going. Freddie found himself alone with Lyndsey and her ginormous bump. Everyone was either on the dance floor or at the bar. In a tiny corner of the club stood Freddie and Lyndsey together. They hadn't spoken since Sandy got sent down. Lyndsey blamed herself for a lot for it as she felt carrying the burden of knowing she slept with Freddie contributed to her decision to do time for Freddie.

'Well…'  
'Freddie, I...'  
'Chose to completely ignore and humiliate me?'  
'No, I...'  
'You haven't really got the right to be on that high horse of yours, have you? I mean, you don't even know if the baby really is Joes. That's not to say it's mine, either…' Lyndsey interrupts

'Freddie I know you're angry and you every right to be but' Freddie ignores Lyndsey

How do I know you've not been sleeping around, keeping it in the family? Who else has had a go? Ziggy? Robbie? Jason?'

'OI!' Joe's voice bellowed behind Freddie and into his ear. He may have been drunk but it did scare him. 'If you've got something to say about my misses you can say it to me!' Joe was clearly fuming and even though scared, Freddie was too drunk to care.  
'I've said what I wanted to say. If you don't like it, that's your problem'. Freddie made his way out of the club. He wished he could walk away from Hollyoaks village and start a new life somewhere nobody knew him but it wasn't that easy.  
'FREDDIE! OI, FREDDIE!' Joe stomped through the club, pushing his way through the crowds to follow Freddie out on to the balcony. Without a second thought, he grabbed him by the collar and continued to take tiny steps forward. Soon he was holding Freddie over the stairs.  
'What are you going to do, Joe?' Freddie glanced down at the metal stairs. He knew if Joe let go the fall could kill him. Did Joe have it in him though?

'You know…'  
'What? You want to kill me? Or haven't you got it in you? Maybe you're all talk and you haven't done anything because deep down you know I'm right. You're only regret is not having the guts to do what I've done'. Freddie and Joe stared coldly into each other's eyes, Joe's grip on Freddie getting tighter. His anger was flaring by the minute but he couldn't let go. Joe was a lot of things, but he wasn't a killer.  
There was a long pause until suddenly, there was a loud scream from inside the club and without thinking, Joe let go of Freddie. In slow motion, Joe watched Freddie in horror as hid body fell down the stairs. His head smashing against the metal. Joe stared as he watched Freddie's lifeless body lay at the bottom, blood pouring from his head. Had he just killed his own brother?


	2. Chapter 2

p class="MsoNormal"Freddie lay in the hospital bed, face black and blue from the fall and his body full of wires. It had been a week since the accident and Joe hadn't left his side. Ziggy, Robbie and Jason went whenever they could but Joe demanded they concentrated on school work and Ziggy kept the garage going. Joe had never felt so confused in all his life. There, in front of him was his brother. The brother he hated, the brother that betrayed him in the worst possible ways. Yet he still loved him. When It came down to it, he couldn't bear to live without his brother. Growing up it was always Freddie and Joe. Two brothers who stuck together like glue. Ziggy also, to a certain degree but even as a kid he was too busy chasing skirts. Joe stared at the wreck that was once Frederick Roscoe. What had happened to him? He wasn't the brother he knew. Joe hate Freddie so much and on so many occasions he had wished him dead. Now that it was happening, he'd do anything to have him / 'I've got some test results…' Lyndsey slowly opened the door to Freddie's private room. Despite being due in under two weeks, she was dressed her in / 'Wh-what are you doing?' Joe couldn't believe what he was seeing. How on earth could Lyndsey even think about working so close to her due date? She should be at home, resting with her feet / 'I had to, Joe… he's your brother, the little one's uncle' Lyndsey stroked her vastly growing bump. 'Besides, my maternity leave only started a few days ago.' Lyndsey spoke with the most gentle of voices. There's no way Joe could be mad at herbr / 'You should be at home, resting, with-' Before joe could say another word, Lyndsey gently touched his lips with her / 'Do you want these results? They're from the brain scan we did this morning'. Lyndsey opened the file and read through the notes. As she did, tears fell from her eyes. 'I'm sorry Joe, it's not good…' Standing up, Joe pulled Lyndsey into a hug, kissed her on the forehead and held her tightly. Lyndsey was in a difficult position; as a nurse she had a responsibility to remain professional yet it was family. No matter how much you hate or dislike somebody, family is family. Plus as a heavily pregnant woman, the last thing she needed was to feel strong emotional. Pulling away from joe, Lyndsey took a few deep breathes, cleared her throat and read the results of the brain / 'There has been sufficient damage to the brain. It's unclear as to whether or not it is permanent but there is definitely damage and severe swelling. From what I can see, he's been lucky. The parts of the brain which control his ability walk and talk haven't been affected but that could change. We need to keep a close eye on him and monitor him closely. At this point, it could still go either way. I'm so sorry Joe'. Lyndsey left with haste as she didn't want joe to see her cry. Joe worried so much about Lyndsey. All his paranoia and fears about her and Freddie, he was able to channel into worrying about her and her baby. Her, and their / Another week had gone by. Freddie's condition had improved but only slightly. He was still out of it but at least he was breathing on his own. Joe never left his side. Lyndsey, Ziggy, Robbie and Jason were becoming increasingly worried; as if they didn't have enough to worry about. But then again what could they do? They couldn't make joe do anything. They just had to let him get on with it. br / Another week had past. The swelling in his brain had gone down a great deal and he had improved quite a lot. It wouldn't be long before he'd be waking up….br / 'Fred?' Joe looked eagerly as Freddie's eyes began to flutter. 'Freddie, it's me joe. You're…' Brother? Somehow that didn't seem right despite it being true. There was no denying joe was over the moon his brother was going to be ok but at the same time, he couldn't just forget all the stuff that he had said to him. 'You're in hospital you're gonna be ok. Just rest tight'. Joe didn't know what else to say. What else Is there to say? Freddie's eyes were wide open but he was non-responsive. It was like, the lights were on but nobody's / 'Mr Roscoe, Joseph roscoe?' a doctor joe had never seen before rushed into the room. Was everything ok? What was going on with Freddie? 'Its your wife, Lyndsey. She's gone into labour'. Joe stood up and panic struck him like a bolt of lightning. Freddie had only just woken up and he couldn't leave him. But then again, the love of his life was giving birth to his baby and she needed / 'Fred. I have to go, I'm sorry. I promise I will be come straight back. I won't leave you'. Joe shouted as he sprinted to the / Joe ran as fast as he could to the maternity ward. He soon found Lyndsey and she was in the most agonising pain. As soon as their eyes met she reached out to him and squeezed his hand as hard as she could. In retaliation, joe stroked her hand with his free one until the pain / 'Joe…' Lyndsey / 'I'm here…'br / 'I don't know what came over me. One minute I was fine, next minute-' Lyndsey began to endure another excruciatingly painful contraction. Once again, she gripped Joe's hand as hard as could, almost stopping his blood / 'you're ten centimetres dilated. Time to start pushing', the doctor called to / 'Come on baby, you can do this'. Joe held Lyndsey tight and kissed her on the forehead. Lyndsey pushed as hard as she could. Sweat and tears from the pain were streaming down her face. Her hair was soaking wet and tangled. She had no makeup on and the gown given to her looked more like a king size bed sheet because of how slim she was. Even with all this in mind, Joe couldn't help but notice how beautiful she / Moments later there was a second of pure silence before high pitched screaming was heard. The midwife who assisted the birth turned to Joebr / 'would you like to cut the cord?' joe took a single glance at his baby and tears began to roll down his eyes uncontrollably. Shaking, he took the scissors and gently cut the cord before the doctor took the baby, wrapped it in a blanket and passed it to / 'Congratulations, you have a baby girl'. Both Joe and Lyndsey burst into tears and cuddled each other as Lyndsey held their daughter in her arms and joe gazed into her eyes whilst whispering 'I love you' to both Lyndsey and his baby / 'Do you have a name?' enquired the midwife as she gazed at the perfect couple in aww. br / 'Not yet, we-' How could you explain to a complete stranger that, before you thought about names, you wanted to first try and work out who the father / 'Don't worry about it, love. It's understandable. So much to prepare for when you're expecting. Although, if you don't mind me saying, she looks like she's gonna be a right trouble maker and heart breaker' The midwife turns to joe 'She'll l have you wrapped around her little finger in no time'. Joe laughed but it was a nervous laugh. Freddie was always the trouble maker, the heartbreaker and it was always Joe that picked up the pieces. It was never the other way round. Joe gazed at the baby again. She didn't look like him at all. In fact, he couldn't see a baby girl anymore, he just saw / 'How-'br / 'he woke up'br / 'today?'br / 'yeah, today… of all days'br / 'its probably just coincidence, try not to think-' But before Lyndsey could say another word, Joe had leapt up and flew out of the room. He chased out of the maternity ward and out of the hospital. Then, in the middle of the car park in the pouring rain, he fell to his knees and let out an almighty scream. Whoever this was, whoever was messing with his head was pushing him too far. he couldn't take anymore, his head was going to / !- [if !supportLineBreakNewLine]-br / !-[endif]-/p 


End file.
